MARIO BALOTELLI

London: Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard accused team mate Mario Balotelli of showing disrespect after the Italian found himself at the centre of controversy despite scoring a winning penalty against Besiktas on Thursday.
Balotelli stroked the ball home in the 85th minute to secure a 1-0 win at Anfield but only after...

London: Brendan Rodgers watched Mario Balotelli break into a rare smile after his latest major contribution to a Liverpool triumph on Saturday and reflected with satisfaction: "I think the penny's dropped."
'At last', the Liverpool manager might have been tempted to add. After the wholly underwhelming start to life at Anfield,...

Mario Balotelli went from forgotten man to match-winner at Liverpool as his late goal against Tottenham tightened up the race for Champions League qualification in the Premier League on Tuesday.
The maverick Italy striker came off the bench for just his second appearance in a month, and pounced for an 83rd-minute...

Liverpool: Mario Balotelli came off the bench to grab a late winning goal for Liverpool in a 3-2 victory over Tottenham in the Premier League on Tuesday, boosting his team's chances of hauling in its rivals for Champions League qualification.
Out of favor at Anfield in recent months, Balotelli entered in...

London: Out-of-favour Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli needs to improve in training if he wants to get back into the squad, manager Brendan Rodgers has said.
Italian Balotelli, who is yet to score a league goal in 12 appearances since his 16 million pounds ($23.98 million) move from AC Milan in August,...

Liverpool: Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge is closing in on a return to action after more than four months out injured but Mario Balotelli's exile from the first team is set to continue.
Sturridge, who has been out since August, will make his comeback in next weekend's home match against West Ham...

London: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists he will not let go of Italian striker Mario Balotelli in the January transfer window.
"It is not something I have even thought about. We have had a lot of games this season in a lot of competitions," Rodgers was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk.
"At...

Mario Balotelli will return to Liverpool's squad for the festive programme but manager Brendan Rodgers was hardly effusive in his praise of the Italy's striker's credentials on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old Balotelli has struggled to make an impact at Anfield since his 16 million pounds ($24.88 million) move from AC Milan in...

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli is banned from Sunday's match against Arsenal as punishment for posting racially offensive comments online.
The FA on Thursday imposed the one-match ban and a fine of 25,000 pounds ($39,000), while also ordering Balotelli to attend an education program for the "aggravated breach" of its discrimination rules.
Balotelli...

London: Is it any wonder Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi still set the goal-standard in football? Ascending to their level, or getting anywhere near their scoring rate, seems beyond most contemporaries.
Particularly for the strikers whose hype and profiles eclipse their prowess in front of goal. And especially for some of...

Mario Balotelli could return for Liverpool at Manchester United this weekend having returned to training after missing a month with a thigh injury, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Friday.
The Italian, who has yet to score a Premier League goal for Liverpool since arriving from AC Milan in the close season,...

Mario Balotelli was charged by the English Football Association on Friday for posting a message on a social media site that was criticized for being racist and anti-Semitic.
Balotelli uploaded on Instagram a picture of the video-game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around...

Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli apologised on Tuesday for his social media post which appeared to contain potentially racist and anti-Semitic references.
Balotelli, who made the post on his Instagram page on Monday, will be investigated by the Football Association (FA), according to British media reports.
The 24-year-old Italian later deleted the post.
"I...

Florence: Mario Balotelli is just another player and should be treated the same way as the others, Italy coach Antonio Conte said on Monday.
Conte, who has called up Balotelli for the first time since he replaced Cesare Prandelli as Italy coach in August, said he would judge the maverick striker...

Ayoze Perez came on at halftime to score the winner for the second straight week as Newcastle beat a lackluster Liverpool 1-0 Saturday in the Premier League.
Moussa Sissoko broke into Liverpool's penalty area in the 73rd minute at St. James' Park and tried to play in Remy Cabella. Alberto Moreno...

Mario Balotelli enjoyed a rare moment of ecstasy in a Liverpool shirt by inspiring a 2-1 win over Swansea City in the League Cup on Tuesday while Chelsea had to call for reinforcements to see off Shrewsbury Town.
On a night when Premier League West Bromwich Albion were dumped out by...

Mario Balotelli misfired in front of goal again as Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw by Hull in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Italy striker has made an underwhelming start to his Liverpool career and was criticised for exchanging shirts at halftime with Real Madrid defender Pepe in a...

Mario Balotelli's misfiring career at Anfield took another turn for the worst against Real Madrid on Wednesday with a halftime shirt-swap that did not impress manager Brendan Rodgers.
With Liverpool 3-0 down and being outclassed by the champions, Balotelli was spotted by TV cameras indulging in an exchange of shirts with...

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes it is just a matter of time until Mario Balotelli rediscovers his scoring touch and has backed the misfiring Italian to find the target in Wednesday's Champions League clash against Real Madrid.
After completing a 16 million pounds ($25.79 million) move from AC Milan in August,...

Mario Balotelli admits he is struggling to adapt to Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers' tactics as he seeks to open his Premier League account for his new club.
The Italian has endured a difficult start to the season since joining from AC Milan, managing just one goal for Liverpool against Bulgarian side...

Italy coach Antonio Conte has played down his exclusion of Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli for upcoming European Championship qualifying matches.
Since transferring to Liverpool from AC Milan after the World Cup, Balotelli has yet to score in five appearances in the Premier League and was also left off last month's Italy...

Mario Balotelli found himself on the receiving end of yet more racist abuse on Sunday after a jokey reference to Manchester United FC's shock defeat by Leicester City sparked a flurry of invective on social media.
Police later confirmed they were looking into the abuse that had come the Liverpool striker's...

London: Liverpool's English Premier League challenge received another early blow as an impressive West Ham beat last season's runnerup 31 on Saturday.
Liverpool were heavily favored to win at West Ham, but suffered successive league defeats for the first time since December.
"We made a really slow start and before we knew...

London: Liverpool are not in need of a magic formula to win Premier League matches and their new arrivals are starting to settle in to life at Anfield, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Thursday.
After surpassing expectations last season and finishing second behind champions Manchester City, Liverpool have made an inconsistent...

Florence: Italy coach Antonio Conte was not trying to send a message to Mario Balotelli by leaving him off the squad.
Balotelli, who recently joined Liverpool from AC Milan, was not included in the 27man squad for Italy's first qualifying match for the 2016 European Championship against Norway on Sept. 9....

Brendan Rodgers marked his 100th game in charge by watching Liverpool produce an irresistible performance as they beat a toothless Tottenham Hotspur 30 in the Premier League at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and Alberto Moreno were on target as Liverpool bounced back from Monday's defeat by...

Liverpool: Mario Balotelli is in line to make his Liverpool debut against Tottenham on Sunday after impressing manager Brendan Rodgers in the Italy striker's first practice sessions with his new club.
Rodgers says Balotelli "has settled in very well and has looked fantastic in training. . He is engrossing himself into...

Milan: Mario Balotelli has some work to do to earn the respect of Italy coach Antonio Conte.
Conte tells the Gazzetta dello Sport that he's not sure Balotelli's decision to move back to England is positive or not, "but I do know that whoever joins the national team must then deserve...

Milan: There are plenty of changes in Serie A this season after a difficult and tumultuous period for Italian football.
The pain in Italy began with the Italian Cup final in May, which was overshadowed by the shooting and later death of Napoli fan Ciro Esposito.
It was hoped a good World...

Having just waved goodbye to a player who constantly courted controversy, Liverpool rolled out the welcome mat to Mario Balotelli on Monday, whose maverick if inconsistent talent is perhaps only rivalled by his ability to cause mischief.
Following the departure of Luis Suarez on the back of a third suspension for...